by Steve DiMeglio, USA TODAY Sports

by Steve DiMeglio, USA TODAY Sports

DORAL, Fla. - World No. 1 Rory McIlroy's game was still adrift in a sea of poor shots Thursday in the opening round of the World Golf Championships-Cadillac Championship at the TPC Blue Monster.

World No. 2 Tiger Woods, on the other hand, relied on a scintillating putter to rescue his few errant shots and grabbed the first-round lead at 6-under 66 with Freddie Jacobson, Graeme McDowell, Bubba Watson and Sergio Garcia.

Under brilliant sunshine and with little wind at Trump Doral Resort, par took a beating. But McIlroy, playing with Woods and world No. 3 Luke Donald in the day's marquee group, failed to land many birdie chances in his round of 1-over-73. Woods, meanwhile, made nine birdies during a 66. He last made nine birdies in a round during the 2012 BMW Championship during the FedExCup Playoffs. He nearly made a 10th birdie on the final hole - he has only made 10 birdies in a round twice during his career.

McIlroy, who pulled out of last week's Honda Classic midway through the second round, struggled with all facets of his game. His first birdie came from 5 feet on the 15th - his sixth hole of the day - but it followed two consecutive bogeys. After a three-putt bogey on the 18th, he strung together three consecutive bogeys starting at No. 2.

He hit just three of 14 fairways, needed 31 putts and throughout the round his body language mirrored his golf game - lethargic.

"It was a bit of a struggle to be honest," McIlroy said. "Hit some good shots, hit some not so good shots. But yeah, as I've been saying all week, this is a work-in-progress and I'm working at it and I'm staying patient.

"I've got another three rounds here to try and work on it a bit more and shoot a few good scores and we'll see what happens."

He will get to play the weekend - there's no cut at this event - but he will begin Round 2 seven shots off the pace.

"I just had to try and play each hole as it came," said McIlroy, who has only played 98 holes this year. "It was nice to sneak in a couple birdies on the last three holes and make it look somewhat respectable, even though everyone seems to be going pretty low out there. It was a day where it was perfect scoring conditions, not much wind, and you could really shoot a good one."

Woods perked up considerably during his round with his work on the greens and then with his irons. He made birdie putts from 18 feet on No. 11, from 11 feet on No. 12, from 20 feet on No. 16 and from nine feet on 18. After making the turn, he canned birdie putts of 3, 5 and 38 feet on holes 1, 2 and 4, respectively, and added two others from 5 feet on No. 7 and 2 feet on No. 8.

"(McIlroy) certainly struggled today, but he got it back at the end," Woods said. "He made a few mistakes, but he can get it back. We have three more days. With the conditions being benign, until, I think, probably Sunday, he certainly can (bounce back).

" â?¦ I don't think he's quite drawing the ball like he used to. Maybe just a little bit defensive out there. We have all gone through stretches like this. It happens, and it happened to him last year in the middle of the year, and ended up all right at the end of the year.

"When you play golf and you play golf for a very long time, you're going to have spells like this."

McIlroy said he is at least through with putting undo pressure on himself and won't push matters to get his game back to where it was last year when he won four tournaments in the last four months and took home money titles on both the PGA Tour and European Tour.

"I wasn't putting as much pressure on myself and that's why I didn't get as frustrated," he said. "If I had played like that last week, I would have been not so happy but as I said, I understand that it's a work-in-progress and I'm working at it and it will come together pretty soon."

Donald's game was far from sharp, too, in the early going. Playing in just his third tournament of the season - and in just his seventh round of the year - started his round with as snap-hook 3-wood into the water on No. 10 and shot 38 on his first nine. He saved his round with three consecutive birdies to start his back nine and wound up at 2-under 70.